Hinge and counter-balancing support



Feb. 24,1970 R. 5. LARSON 3,

HINGE AND COUNTER-BALANCING SUPPORT Filed May 24, 1968 United States Patent 3,496,595 HINGE AND COUNTER-BALANCING SUPPORT Robert S. Larson, Loves Park, Ill., assig'nor to Keystone Consolidated Industries, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 24, 1968, Ser. No. 731,884 Int. Cl. Ef 1/12 US. Cl. 16180 7 Claims AZBSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge and counter-balancing support for the lid of a cabinet or enclosure having a housing or cabinet wing secured to the rear wall of the cabinet and a lid Wing pivotally mounted on the housing and secured to the lid for the cabinet. The housing contains an adjustable guide pin having an enlarged head, a cam mounted on and reciprocable relative to the guide pin in the housing and having an enlarged head, and a compression spring between and bearing against the enlarged heads. At the upper end of the cam is an angularly arranged camming surface terminating at its upper end in a generally flat horizontal portion, and the lid wing carries a cam rivet riding on the camming surface and flat surface during pivotal movement of the lid and lid wing.

The present invention relates to a hinge and support for the lid of a cabinet and more particularly to a hinge and counter-balancing support for a cabinet lid which will yieldably retain the lid in closed position and will counter-balance the lid during opening and closing movement thereof.

Among the objects of the present invention is the provision of a hinge and counter-balancing support for the lid of a cabinet wherein the lid is yieldably retained in closed position by the force exerted by a compression spring acting on a cam and cam rivet in an over-center position with respect to the pivotal axis of the hinge.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a hinge and counter-balancing support having a lid wing secured to the lid and pivotally mounted onto a housing secured to the cabinet, the lid wing including a cam rivet extending thereacross and cooperating with a cam reciprocably mounted in the housing and yieldably biased against the cam rivet. The weight of the cabinet lid substantially counter-balances the force of the biasing means.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a hinge and counter-balancing support for the lid of a cabinet having a lid wing having a cam rivet pivotally mounted on a housing having a spring-biased cam. The cam includes an upper inclined camming surface having an upper flat generally horizontal surface aligned below the pivotal mounting for the lid wing. The cam is biased against the cam rivet and, when the cam rivet engages the inclined camming surface, the lid is yieldably biased upwardly by the spring. When the rivet engages the flat surface on the cam, the lid is yieldably biased to a closed position.

Further objects are to provide a construction of maximum simplicity, efliciency, economy and ease of assembly and operation, and such further objects, advantages and capabilities as will later more fully appear and are inherently possessed thereby.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the hinge and counter-balancing support of the present invention mounted on a cabinet and lid therefor with the lid in closed position.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 1 P

but with the lid in open or raised position.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the hinge and counter-balancing support showing the internal structure thereof.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of the cam and biasing and guiding means therefor.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a rear elevational view of the cam.

Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawing wherein is shown an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 discloses a hinge and counter-balancing support 10 for the lid 11 of a cabinet or other enclosure 12, such as a cabinet for a phonograph. The hinge and counter-balancing support 10 includes a lid wing 13 having a front wall 14 with integral mounting flanges 15 having openings 16 to receive suitable securing means, such as the screws 17, a top wall 18 and spaced side walls 19 having openings to receive a pivot pin or rivet 21 adjacent the top wall 18 and aligned embossments 22 located adjacent the lower edge and behind the pivot pin or rivet 21.

The embossments 22 have opening therein to receive a cam rivet or pin 23 extending between the sides 19,

19 and headed at 24 in the recess 25 formed by the embossment 22 (see FIG. 2). The front wall 14 and mounting flanges 15 abut the rear edge 26 of the lid 11, and a flange 27, integral with and perpendicular to the front wall 14, abuts the underside 28 of the lid and is provided with an opening 29 to receive suitable securing means, such as the screw 31.

The hinge and counter-balancing support 10 also includes a housing or cabinet wing 32 of a generally channel shape having side walls 33, 33 with integral mounting flanges 34, 34, a rear wall 35, and a bottom wall 36. The mounting flanges each have an opening 37 and an elongated slot 38 adapted to receive suitable securing means, such as the screws 39, to mount the housing onto the rear wall of the cabinet or other enclosure 12. The side walls 33, 33 are each provided with an upward extension 41 having an opening adjacent the upper rounded edge 42 adapted to be aligned with the openings in the lid wing 13 to receive the pivot pin or rivet 21 which is headed at each end as at 43. The side wall are also provided with integral inwardly extending guide flanges 44, 44 above the mounting flanges 34, 34 for a purpose to be later described.

The bottom wall 36 of the housing is provided with an extruded threaded opening 45 to receive a threaded adjusting screw 46 having an enlarged slotted head 47 below the bottom wall 36 and an inner end 48 received in a recess 49 in the enlarged head 52 of a guide pin 51. The guide pin has a cylindrical stem 53 extending upward from a shoulder 54 to project into an elongated cylindrical recess 55 in the depending cylindrical shank 57 of a cam member 56. The cam member 56 has a generally rectangular base 58 providing a hollow generally rectangular recess 59 in the underside thereof to receive one end 62 of a compression spring 61. The spring encompasses the stem 53 and the shank 57 and has the opposite end 63 encompassing the shoulder 54 and bearing against the upper surface of the enlarged head 52 of the guide pin 51.

The base 58 of the cam member 56 is provided at its opposite sides with a shoulder or ledge 64 merging into the narrowed sides 65 of the upwardly projecting camming portion having an inclined camming surface 66 extending upwardly and rearwardly from the front surface 67 to terminate in a generally horizontal flat surface 68 at the rear wall 69 thereof. The camming portion of the cam member 56 is constantly yieldably biased upwardly by the spring 61 against the cam pin or rivet 23 in a manner to be described. The force of the spring exerted on said cam can be varied by adjustment of the screw 46 engaging and adjusting the guide pin 51 relative to the bottom wall 36 of said housing 32.

Considering the operation of this hinge and counterbalaneing support 10, FIG. 1 discloses the lid 11 in a closed position on the cabinet 12 with the pivot pin or rivet 21 providing the pivotal axis for the lid hinge of the lid wing 13 and housing 32. The cam pin or rivet 23, as more clearly shown in FIG. 5, engages or abuts the fiat surface 68 of the cam 56, with the force of the spring 61 exerted through the cam 56 on the cam pin or rivet 23 to retain the lid 11 in closed position due to the over-center position of the cam pin or rivet 23 relative to the pivot pin or rivet 21 and the line of force of the spring 61.

When the lid 11 is manually lifted, initial movement causes rotation of the lid wing 13 about the pivot pin or rivet 21, which causes arcuate movement of the cam pin or rivet 23 forward to move from the flat surface 68 onto the inclined surface 66, with the spring 61 constantly biasing the cam 56 upward to engage the cam rivet 23. Once the cam rivet 23 engages the inclined cam surface 66, the force of the spring 61 and the cooperation between the cam rivet 23 and the inclined surface 66 tends to move the lid 11 to the open position shown in FIG. 2, the force of the spring 61 counterbalancing the weight of the lid 11 so that the lid 11 will remain in any position between fully open and closed positions and will not slam shut. The lid is in fully open position when the cam rivet 23 is at the intersection of the lower end of the inclined surface 66 and the front wall 64 of the cam 56.

To close the lid, the movement of the cam rivet 23 is reversed and engages the inclined surface 66 to yieldably urge the cam 56 downward against the force of the spring 61. As the cam rivet 23 moves from the inclined surface 66 to the flat surface 68, it also moves over-center re ative to the line of force of the spring and the pivot rivet 21 to retain the iid 11 in closed position on the cabinet 12. The guide flanges 44, 44 cooperate with the front wall 64 of the cam 56 and the rear wall 35 of the housing 32 cooperates with the rear wall 69 of the cam 56 to guide and orient the cam for vertical reciprocation.

Having thus disclosed by invention, I claim:

1. A hinge and counter-balancing support for the lid of a cabinet or other enclosure, comprising a housing secured to the cabinet and a lid wing secured to the lid and pivotally mounted on the housing, a cam rivet secured said lid wing and a cam member in said housing yieldably biased toward and engaging said can-1 rivet, said cam member having a camming surface with an inclined portion and a fiat portion intersecting the upper end of said inclined portion.

2. A hinge and counter-balancing support as set forth in claim 1, including a pivot rivet pivotally mounting said lid wing on said housing and spaced rearwardly from said lid, and said cam rivet is positioned in said lid wing below and behind said pivot rivet.

3. A hinge and counter-balancing support as set forth in claim 2, including a compression spring yieldab y biasing said cam member against said cam rivet, said cam rivet when moved onto said flat portion being in an over-center position relative to a line between the spring force and said pivot rivet, thereby eliminating any vibrations.

4. A hinge and counter-balancing support as set forth in claim 1, in which said cam member includes an enlarged head and a depending hollow shank, a guide pin having an enlarged head and a stem received in said hollow shank, a compression spring encompassing said stem and shank between and bearing against said enlarged heads, and stop means in said housing engaging the enlarged head of said guide pin.

5. A hinge and counter-balancing support as set forth in c aim 4, in which said stop means is a screw threadingly engaging the housing and having an end engaging the enlarged head of said guide pin.

6. A hinge and counter-balancing support as set forth in claim 5, in which adjustment of said screw in the housing varies the force of the spring exerted on said cam member.

7. A hinge and counteraiancing support as set forth in claim 1, in which said cam rivet engaging said flat portion retains the lid in closed position, and when said cam rivet engages said inclined portion, the force of the spring acting on said cam member counter-balances the weight of the lid.

References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,587,947 3/1952 Wolf 16-190 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

